The best way, I feel, to approach evaluating a case, is
to actually build a PC out of it (gee, smart guy I am :D). It's always best to
learn by doing. Well, what did I learn? First off, despite my usual bias against
your average case with a removable board tray, I like this one. One thing I
don't like about removable trays, is that they often compromise the integrity of
the chassis, and are often warped and hard to remove/install. That was
definitely not the case here with the AOpen. With the case made out of 1.0mil
sheet steel, it's pretty beefy without the tray installed, and the tray slides
in and out of the system pretty easy. Although board trays really aren't a big
time saver, as such, when building a PC, they can be helpful, especially when
installing a lot of components at once.
One thing that is atypical with the AOpen, is the
disassembly. In order to remove the side panels (held on with screws), you have
to remove the top cover. Considering that there are no thumbscrews here, just
plain old Phillips, it takes a bit longer than your typical case to get inside.
This DOES dynamically lock the side-panels into the chassis structure however,
and I'm sure it was done for the sake of chassis rigidity. And let there be no
mistake, this case ranks up there with the best I have seen in chassis
stiffness. The last thing you want, is a chassis with a lot of flex to it. Even
a little can be noticeable over time, as you swap components in and out, and
discover holes that start to not want to line up.
One thing I miss, especially in comparison to my
favorite Casedge Midtowers, and to a lesser extent, the Antec and Enlight cases,
are the quick assembly with snap on drive rails. Everything in the HX08 installs
traditionally, with screws. This is really less of an issue than I might seem to
be making out of it. When you're building systems for sale, time is money, and
anything that can help speed up assembly is a good thing. The kinds of
specialty/monster systems that would go in such a huge tower as this one, are
usually built deliberately, one at a time. Drive rails would have been a nice
touch for the 5" bays however.
Next
page: Conclusion
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